Technologies such as Extensible Business Reporting Language
and web services will drive business success by putting more
accountability into business processes and making them more
transparent, according to a new report.
The latest technology forecast from PricewaterhouseCoopers
predicted that XBRL, backed by web services, will help
organisations react to business change, comply with new regulatory
frameworks such as the banking industry's Basel 2, and manage
information more effectively.
Alison Jones, a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers, said the
technology will ultimately save organisations time and money. "The
reason I am interested in XBRL is the business benefits it
provides," she said. "XBRL represents the most efficient way to
deliver on the future reporting model."
In three to five years' time XBRL will become the accepted standard
for reporting business information, said Jones, resulting in
simplified processes, improved access to information and enabling
better informed business decisions.
However, she said that adopting XBRL would require investment in
other areas such as business intelligence software to help
interpret the data.
Bo Parker, managing director at PricewaterhouseCoopers' European
technology centre, said over the past year business intelligence
software has become more focused on individual transactions and
this, coupled with the increased use of XML in web services, is
helping to dramatically improve business efficiencies.
Other IT industry trends identified by Parker include companies
weeding out kit that does not generate return on investment and
cutting back on IT infrastructure to fund investment in
applications such as business intelligence.
What is XBRL?
Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) is based on the XML
standard for data transfer. XBRL-defined information held in
hitherto incompatible systems can be used to populate searchable
business reports. These reports can be distributed to interested
parties such as stakeholders and analysts, as well as to other
software applications. XBRL International, the consortium backing
the technology, is supported by more than 200 organisations.